Now then... Scream Factory has confirmed that their Blu-ray Combo release of The Final Terror (due 7/1) will include interviews with actors Adrian Zmed and Lewis Smith, post production supervisor Allan Holzman and composer Susan Justin, audio commentary with Andrew Davis, and the film’s theatrical trailer. They also have Phantom of the Paradise coming on 8/5, including a TON of new and previous content (some on the BD and some on the DVD). New extras will include: Audio commentary with Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham, and the Juicy Fruits (Archie Hahn, Jeffrey Comanor and Harold Oblong aka Peter Eibling), audio commentary with production designer Jack Fisk, interviews with director Brian DePalma, Paul Williams talking about the music, producer Edward R. Pressman, drummer Gary Mallaber, and make-up effects wizard Tom Burman discussing the Phantom Helmet, the Alvin’s Art and Technique featurette on the neon poster, and Phantom of the Paradise Biography by Gerrit Graham (the 1974 Publicity Sheet written by and read by Graham). Legacy content will include the Paradise Regained documentary, interviews with costume designer Rosanna Norton and Paul Williams, alternate takes, Swan Song outtake footage, radio and TV spots, a still gallery, and the theatrical trailer.

Meanwhile, Anchor Bay and RADiUSTWC have set Errol Morris’ documentary The Unknown Known for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/1.

Magnolia Home Entertainment has set Fracknation for Blu-ray and DVD release on 6/24.

IFC Films (via IFC Midnight) will release Almost Human on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/17.

Icarus Films has set Northern Light for DVD and digital release on 7/15.

Paramount and CBS will release Unforgettable: The Second Season on DVD on 6/24.

Well Go USA has set Kid Cannabis and Rigor Mortis for Blu-ray and DVD release on 7/8.

Drafthouse Films and Cinedigm will release The Final Member on Blu-ray and DVD on 6/17.

And Cinedigm also has Some Velvet Morning coming on DVD on 6/24.

Finally, we need to take a moment today to acknowledge the passing (last Sunday) of the master cinematographer Gordon Willis. He was 82. If you’ve seen such classics as The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Manhattan, Annie Hall, Klute, Zelig, and All the President’s Men, then you know his work well. Though Willis was nominated twice for an Oscar, he won neither. The Academy awarded him an honorary Oscar in 2009. Willis was a legend of cinema and will be missed accordingly. You can read more here at The New York Times. (A quick personal note: I had the great pleasure last night to dine with our old friend Robert A. Harris – who worked with Willis on the recent restoration of The Godfather films (see this article from American Cinematographer) – as well Ed Peters and Kevin Koster from The HTF. Robert regaled us with stories of Willis among many other topics. Fittingly, a toast was made in Gordon’s honor. Evenings like that are rare and special, and remind us why we love this medium.)

Meanwhile, Shout! Factory has announced Herzog: The Collection – Limited Edition Blu-ray box set for release on 7/29 (SRP TBA). The set will be limited to 5,000 copies (100 of which will be available signed by Herzog from shoutfactory.com), and will include 16 films on 13 discs. You’ll get Even Dwarfs Started Small, Land of Silence and Darkness, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Heart of Glass, Stroszek, Woyzeck, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fitzcarraldo, Ballad of the Little Soldier, Where the Green Ants Dream, Cobra Verde, Lessons of Darkness, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, and My Best Fiend. Extras will include English audio commentaries on Even Dwarfs Started Small, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Heart of Glass, Strozek, and Cobra Verde, German audio commentaries (with English subs) on Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fitzcarraldo, and Where the Green Ants Dream, theatrical trailers, and 4 featurettes/documentaries (In Conversation: Werner Herzog and Laurens Straub (in German with English Subtitles), The Making of Nosferatu the Vampyre, Portrait: Werner Herzog, and Herzog in Africa). SRP is $159.99 and Amazon has it for $10 off – $149.99. Here’s what that looks like, and below is cover art for both versions of Breaking Bad…

So the big news today is that Warner Home Video has announced their Batman 75th Anniversary celebration plans. As many of you know, the character first appeared in the comic book Detective Comics #27, which hit newsstands on March 30, 1939. That makes this Sunday the character’s official 75th Anniversary. And if the deliberate leak by WHV earlier this year (with assist by Conan O’Brien) wasn’t official enough, the studio has now confirmed that the classic Adam West and Burt Ward Batman ‘66 TV series will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD this year, though they are still yet to announce a street date (we suspect you’ll hear more at Warner’s Batman 75th panel at WonderCon in Anaheim next month, or at San Diego Comic-Con in July). Warner has also set the all-new animated films Son of Batman for release on BD/DVD on 5/6, followed by Assault on Arkham this summer. Warner also has a pair of new animated shorts coming this year from Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series) and Darwyn Cooke (Batman Beyond). You’ll get a new Batman: 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray release of the Tim Burton film. Obviously, there’s the new Gotham TV series coming to FOX later this year. And production begins this year on the new Batman vs. Superman feature film. Lotta Batman for one year. We’d sure love to see the Bruce Timm animated series find its way to Blu-ray this year, but no sign of it yet. Anyway... [Read on here...]

Meanwhile, our friends at Shout! Factory – specifically their Scream Factory label – have now fully announced their “Summer of Fear” Blu-ray/DVD release slate, which is set to include Final Exam (5/13), Evilspeak (5/13), Nosferatu the Vampyre (5/20), House in the Alley, and Sleepaway Camp: Collector’s Edition (5/13) in May, Ravenous (6/3) and The Monkey’s Paw (6/17) in June, The Final Terror, Lake Placid: Collector’s Edition, Deadly Eyes, and Ginger Snaps: Collector’s Edition in July, and Phantom of the Paradise: Collector’s Edition (8/5), Motel Hell: Collector’s Edition, Leviathan, The Legend of Hell House, Dog Soldiers: Collector’s Edition and Without Warning (a JET’s Most Wanted title for sure) in August! That’s an A-List B-Grade slate if ever we saw one! Phantom of the Paradise?! Awesome.

Also today, we have word that Paramount is re-soliciting all of the Transformers movies on Blu-ray on 6/3, including a Trilogy box set, as part of the build-up to the new sequel Transformers: Age of Extinction which hits theaters in June.

Universal has set Curious George: The Complete Seventh Season for DVD release on 6/3.

Are there any rock ‘n’ roll fans in the house? Eagle Rock Entertainment is releasing the Dio: Live in London – Hammersmith Apollo 1993 concert on Blu-ray on 5/13.

Video Services Corp has set the star-filled Sunset Strip documentary for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 7/22.

And here’s something interesting. First there was the BBC’s Wonders documentary series with Brian Cox (Wonders of the Solar System, Wonders of the Universe, Wonders of Life), then the new Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey with Neil deGrasse Tyson (there’s a new episode this Sunday night on Fox!). Now James Cameron and Showtime have teamed up to produce a new eight-part science series called Years of Living Dangerously on the impacts of climate change. The series debuts on Sunday 4/13 on Showtime, and we would imagine it will find its way to Blu-ray and DVD soon after it finished airing. Looking forward to it. Here’s a trailer...

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We’ll leave you today with a look at the Blu-ray cover artwork for Olive’s Flying Tigers, Home of the Brave and Love Happy, as well as a sneak peek at the art for Scream’s Without Warning, Phantom of the Paradise and Leviathan…

All right, that’s all for this week. If you’re looking for something to do at the movies this weekend, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah opens (anyone who has seen Pi knows or The Fountain knows Aronofsky’s a pretty interesting filmmaker) and I think Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel goes into wider release too. Plus there’s the Final Four if you’re a fan of college basketball.

So have a great weekend and we’ll see you back here on Monday with some very cool new Blu-ray reviews. Stay tuned!

The truly big announcement news today is something a lot of you have been waiting for a long time: StarVista and Time Life are finally releasing The Wonder Years: The Complete Series on DVD in the second half of 2014! Episodes will be complete, “un-edited and untouched from the original broadcast masters,” with the rights to virtually every song having been secured by the producers. The set will also include “deluxe packaging, robust extras and a lot more.” There are no other details available at this time, but an official website has been created where more information will be made available over the coming months leading up to the release. Great news indeed!

In other news today, Scream Factory has revealed the extras that will be included on its forthcoming Blu-ray edition of Nosferatu the Vampyre (due 5/20). Look for audio commentary with writer/producer/director Werner Herzog, a second commentary with Herzog moderated by Laurens Straub (in German with English subtitles), the vintage The Making of Nosferatu featurette, and theatrical trailers.

Also today, our own Russell Hammond has turned in the weekly Release Dates & Artwork update featuring all the latest Blu-ray and DVD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon after clicking through our links – including those in the sidebar on the home page – help support our work here at The Bits and we really appreciate it! [Read on here...]

In announcement news today, Warner has set an Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Contemporary – Volume 2 box set on Blu-ray on 5/13 (SRP $31.96). Included are Once Upon a Time in America, Black Rain, Internal Affairs and The Town.

Meanwhile, Paramount will release a Crocodile Dundee/Crocodile Dundee II double feature, a Flushed Away/Chicken Run/Wallace & Gromit triple feature, a Road to El Dorado/Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas/Joseph: King of Dreams triple feature all on BD, as well as BD singles of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and The Godfather, Part III, all on 5/13. Following on 5/20 are DVD versions of Arthur Hailey’s The Moneychangers, Happy Days: The Fifth Season and The Revengers.

Well Go USA Entertainment will release The Truth About Emanuel on Blu-ray and DVD on 3/25.

Lionsgate has set Anger Management: Volume Three on Blu-ray and DVD on 4/15. They also have The Dog Who Saved Easter coming on DVD only on 4/8.

Anchor Bay has Against the Wild coming on DVD only on 3/11.

Shout! Factory is delivering a Sophie’s Choice: Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray Disc on 4/29, featuring new interviews with actors Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline. The company also has L.A. Law: Season One coming on DVD on 2/25, and they’ve revealed that 5/13 is the street date for their Evilspeak BD, with their upcoming Nosferatu the Vampyre BD set to follow on 5/20.

This is yet another one of those cases where a title gets released almost as an afterthought will little fanfare and virtually no promotion. But there it is. It’s available for pre-order now with an anticipated street date of 1/27. SRP is $29.99, but it’s on sale now for $24.99. The release is happening in partnership with Sony and The Film Foundation. The Blu-ray features a brand-new 4K digital restoration from the original negative. The disc includes an introduction by Robert Osborne, Eddie Muller commentary and galleries of stills, posters, behind-the-scenes photos and lobby cards. Click on the cover art below (of any of the text links) to visit the official pre-order page.

Also today, Scream Factory has announced the Blu-ray release of The Slumber Party Massacre on 3/18 (SRP $24.98). Extras will include audio commentary with director Amy Holden Jones, and actors Michael Villela and Debra De Liso, a new interview with actor Rigg Kennedy, the trailer, and the Sleepless Nights: The Making of The Slumber Party Massacre.

Scream has also announced that they’re working on a new Blu-ray special edition release of Antonia Bird’s 1999 film Ravenous! The release is expected to happen sometime in June. No other details are yet available, except that all-new extras are being created and we’ve got the cover artwork below.

Other Scream titles in the offing are Final Exam (1981), Evilspeak (2004), Dead Shadows (2012) and the afore-mentioned Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). You’ll find cover art for all of them below.

We’ve got a BIG post for you guys today. Let’s start with some new release announcements…

First up, Warner Home Video has finally announced a pair of catalog Blu-ray titles to get excited about: The Big Red One and Memphis Belle are on the way on 5/16 (SRP $19.98 each). [Editor’s Note: We’ve checked with Warner Home Video sources and have confirmed that The Big Red One contains a remastered version of the film’s 113-minute Theatrical Cut in HD and – as a ‘special feature’ – the 169-minute Reconstruction version in SD only as well. That’s official, so FYI and make your plans accordingly.] Check out the cover artwork below. One assumes that any extras that were on the DVDs will carry over. [Read on here…]

Speaking of Warner, they’ve got Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time: The Complete Third Season coming to Blu-ray and DVD on 2/25, featuring all 26 episodes, commentaries for all 26 episodes, an interview with series creator Pendleton Ward, an alternate show introduction, and a “custom collectible BMO die-cut slipcase that transforms your Blu-ray and DVD packaging into your very own collectible BMO figurine.” So there you go. SRP is $32.07 for BD and $26.95 for DVD.

Meanwhile, Disney has set Frozen for Blu-ray Combo and DVD release on 3/18, and HD digital release on 2/25. There’s not a peep in the press release about Blu-ray 3D, but we know that’s because Walmart has an exclusive on the Blu-ray 3D version in their stores. Extras on the Blu-ray will include 3 featurettes (The Making of Frozen, D’frosted: Disney’s Journey from Hans Christian Anderson to Frozen, and Breaking the Ice: The Real Making of Frozen), 4 deleted scenes with introduction by directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, the Get a Horse theatrical short, Let It Go music videos, and the teaser trailer.

Disney also has Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo due on BD on 3/11, followed by The Jungle Book 2 (BD) and Devious Maids: The Complete First Season (DVD only) on 3/18.

20th Century Fox has set The Book Thief for Blu-ray Combo and DVD release on 3/11.

Magnolia will release The Last Days on Mars on Blu-ray and DVD on 3/4.

Shout! Factory has a Sophie’s Choice: Collector’s Edition due on Blu-ray Combo on 4/29.

Meanwhile, Scream has set Nosferatu the Vampyre for Blu-ray release on 5/20. This is the 1979 Werner Herzog film. They’ve also set Evilspeak for Blu-ray on 5/13.

Now let’s do a little CES 2014 wrap-up…

From a home video technology standpoint (4K Blu-ray aside – we’ll talk more about that next week), there were two developments I found most interesting. The first was a new 4K projector – specifically, Sony’s 4K Ultra Short Throw projector. It allows you to project a high-quality 4K image on a blank wall from a long, low cabinet or media shelf-like device that’s positioned nearly up against the wall itself. Here’s what it looks like in action…

My doubts about the consumer demand for 4K itself aside, projectors that work along those lines might go a long way to making video projection more accessible for the average home video consumer. Flat panels are awesome, no doubt, but I’m a big proponent of video projection in terms of offering a much more movie theater-like viewing experience in the home. The projector will be available as a consumer product sometime in mid-2014. You can read more about this device here at gizmag.

The other interesting development, in my opinion, is Dolby Vision, which is a technology add-on to displays (of any HD resolution, so it could be applied to 1080p HDTV, 4K UHD, etc) that greatly improves the image’s color depth and dynamic range. This could become a standard feature on future HDTV displays, it wouldn’t necessarily have to come at a high premium (certainly nowhere near the upgrade cost of 4K) and it would make real difference in current image quality that the average consumer would be a lot more likely to appreciate than the difference between 1080p and 4K. You can read more on this technology today here at Variety and also here at Dolby’s own primer website. Here’s a visual simulation of the difference it can make in image quality…

Also today, the DEG (Digital Entertainment Group) released its annual report on consumer digital media spending habits and trends for 2013. Among the highlights for the year are the following:

• Blu-ray Disc spending remained consistent, up about five percent for the year.

• The number of Blu-ray homes continues to grow, with total household penetration of all Blu-ray compatible devices (including BD set-tops, PS3s and HTiBs) now at more than 72 million U.S. homes according to numbers compiled by the DEG with input from retail tracking sources.

• There are now more than 15 million UltraViolet accounts and most major retailers support UltraViolet.

• Consumers purchased more than 38 million HDTVs in 2013. HDTV penetration is now at more than 96 million U.S. households according to numbers compiled by the DEG with input from retail tracking sources.

• Strong consumer interest in the new Ultra HD/4K technology bodes well for the home entertainment industry. [Editor’s Note: I’m not sure ‘strong consumer interest’ will translate into strong sales, but we’ll have to wait and see.]

I’ve said many time (here at The Bits and elsewhere) that 4K, 8K, and 3D are technologies in search of a market. I’ve seen the latest demos and there is no doubt that 4K and 8K both look absolutely fantastic. Home 3D is improving and autostereoscopic 3D is coming along nicely. The problem is, I just don’t see much in the way of consumer demand for any of it. Display technology is not like smart phones – people don’t want to have to buy a new device every 3 or 4 years, with incremental upgrades in between. We have to remember that consumers in the States lived with analog NTSC television for more than fifty years (from the early 1940s until just a few years ago). Part of the reason for NTSC’s long life is that the pace of technological development back then was a lot slower than it is now. Today, technology is advancing at a blistering pace and it’s only getting faster – far too fast for most consumers (and more importantly, their budgets) to keep up. The other reason for NTSC’s long life, is that for the vast majority of TV viewers, it was simply good enough. Today, the entire TV industry has just upgraded (or is in the process of upgrading – many local TV stations still haven’t completed the transition) to 1080p HDTV. Display prices have come down, consumers are appropriately wowed by the image quality and they’re happy. This process of transition took a long time. I saw my first tech demonstration of HD way back in the late 1980s, thanks to NHK and the Minnesota State Fair. It was exciting at the time to think that HD was just around the corner. But it took another thirty years before HD was widely adopted by the industry and by consumers. So too, I think, will be the case with 4K, 8K and autostereoscopic 3D. The technological capability for these is obviously ready now. But I suspect that consumers might not be ready for any of them for another decade or more. Anyway… just some food for thought.

Finally today (in a completely different note), you Hitchcock fans will be interested to learn that the director made a documentary film on the Holocaust back in 1945, at the behest of the British government, that’s gone largely unseen since. It was apparently made as a way of show the German people the atrocities that the Nazis had committed in their name, but the film took so long to make that the Allies ultimately decided not to release it. The completed reels were sent to the Imperial War Museum and the film was soon forgotten. It was eventually rediscovered, and the Museum has finally restored the footage to present the documentary in a way that Hitchcock originally intended. It will apparently be released later in 2014. You can read more on all this at The Independent.

Now then… we’ll leave you this week with a look at the Blu-ray cover artwork for Warner’s The Big Red One and Memphis Belle, Shout!’s Sophie’s Choice, Fox’s The Book Thief, Magnolia’s The Last Days on Mars and Universal’s Somewhere in Time (due 3/4)…

Have a great weekend and we’ll see you back here on Monday. Stay tuned…!

All right, first up today, our own Russell Hammond has posted the Release Dates & Artwork update for this week, including all the latest Blu-ray, DVD and Video Game cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon after clicking through to them from our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we surely do appreciate it. We’d also like to send out a special nod to Russell this afternoon, as he became a proud papa again last night. Congratulations to the whole family!

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has set the comedies The Way, Way Back and The Internship for Blu-ray and DVD release on 10/22. The Way, Way Back will include 4 featurettes (The Making of The Way, Way Back, Tour of the Water Park, The Filmmakers: Jim & Nat and Ensemble) and deleted scenes. The Internship will include both the theatrical and unrated versions, audio commentary on both with Shawn Levy, the Any Given Monday featurette and deleted scenes. [Editor's Note: FYI, we’ve been informed that The Way, Way Back is not yet officially announced, but should be in the next few weeks, so street date and extras details are still subject to change.]

Here’s something cool: Shout! Factory and director Werner Herzog have joined up in a new distribution deal to release some 16 classic Herzog films on Blu-ray, DVD and digital. These will include Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Woyzeck, Heart of Glass, Cobra Verde, Stroszek, Fata Morgana, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Lessons of Darkness, Ballad of the Little Soldier, Land of Silence and Darkness and more TBA. Very nice indeed.

Meanwhile, the BBC has set Sinbad: The Complete First Season for Blu-ray and DVD release on 9/3 (SRP $34.98 and $29.98).

Cohen Media Group has set the film noir Two Men in Manhattan for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 9/17 (SRP $39.98 and $29.98). This is the 1959 film by writer-director Jean-Pierre Melville of Bob le Flambeur, Le Samourai and Army of Shadows fame.

Gaiam Vivendi Entertainment, Bloody Disgusting Selects and The Collective will release The Haunting of Helena on DVD on 9/17.

CBS and Paramount have set CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: The Thirteenth Season for DVD only release on 9/17.

Well Go USA Entertainment has set OKA! for release on Blu-ray and DVD on 10/22.

The Cinema Guild has set the documentary Leviathan for Blu-ray and DVD release on 10/8.

Universal has announced more new nature documentary Blu-rays for release on 11/12, including Fascination Coral Reef: Hunters and the Hunted, Ocean Predators and Polar Bears: Ice Bear.

Anchor Bay Films has set Embrace of the Vampire for Blu-ray and DVD Combo release on 10/15. This is a remake of the 1995 cult film starring Alyssa Milano, which will also be available on Blu-ray for the first time that same day.

And following up on Anchor Bay’s announcement of the 11/12 Blu-ray release of Lion of the Desert and The Message, Lion’s running time will be 156 minutes and The Message will be 171 minutes. The confirmed aspect ratio for each will be 1.78:1 (like the U.K. releases, though not OAR) for what it’s worth.

And finally, a tip of the hat this afternoon in honor of the passing of the great American writer and crime novelist Elmore Leonard, author of such classics as Get Shorty, Freaky Deaky and Glitz. His short story Fire in the Hole inspired the TV series Justified. He was 87. More here at the New York Times. (Note that the photo of Leonard above is by Daniel Borris for the Times).

We’ll leave you today with a look at some cool new Blu-ray cover artwork for Universal’s Notting Hill (due 10/15), Olive Film’s Betty Boop: The Essential Collection – Volume 1 (now available) and Volume 2 (due 9/24), and Criterion’s amazing Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman box set (11/26). All are now available for order or pre-order on Amazon.com by clicking on the cover art...